And hopedale



Patented May 2, I899.

No. 62-4,l97.

w, a. EATON.

Loom.

(Application filed June 18, 1895.)

(No Model.)

In: NORRIS FETERS co PKOYG-UTHO wunmgfo UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIE G. EATON, OF NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO THE DRAPER COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE, AND HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS.

LOOM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 624,197, dated May 2, 1899.

A plication filed June 16, 1898. Serial No. 683,595- (No model.)

. filling-thread. The absence of filling in the shed, due to breakage or exhaustion of the filling, is detected by the well-known or usual filling-fork, and on a common loom absence of filling effects stoppage of the loom in order that the weaver may piece up or insert a fresh supply of filling in the shuttle. On the automatic loom, such as the Northrop type, a fresh supply of filling is automatically inserted in the shuttle without stopping the loom, a loom of such type being shown and described in United States Patents Nos. 529,940

and 529,943, dated November 27, 1894..

In cloth made with more than two harnesses if the filling fails and is not thereafter introent in the cloth and very noticeable in certain classes of goods; and this invention has for its object the production of means for obviating such defects.

I have herein shown my invention as adapt- I ed to cooperate with a four-harness weave, though it is not restricted thereto, for the same principle of operation may be used with other numbers of harnesses.

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of a loom, showing the filling-fork and cooperating devices, including a part of' filling-supplying mechanism, with one embodiment of my invention illustrated in position on the loom, the section being taken on the line m m, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a top or plan view of some of the parts of the loom shown in Fig. 1, omitting the filling-supplying mechanism and the cam for operating the wefthammer. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view, in side elevation, of the filling-fork and a part of the cooperating mechanism shown in Fig. 1 to be described. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are enlarged detail views of the hook which cooperates at times with the filling-fork, show in g the operation of my invention; and Fig. '7 is a detail in plan of the setting-dog.

It will be understood that herein, as in the patents referred to, the filling supplying mechanism is located at one side of the loom (the right-hand side for convenience) and the filling-fork is located at or near the opposite or left-hand side of the loom. At the lefthand side of the loom, then, near the usual shipper-handle 39, is pivoted at b a knock-E lever b normally resting close to or against the shipper-handle, the free end of the lever being acted upon by the filling-fork mechanism. A stand b is mounted on the breastbeam A and has a suitable guideway b in which is adapted to reciprocate a slide 1)", upon which is pivoted, at 13 the filling-fork Z1 having a tail Z1 adapted to be engaged by a hook I), pivoted at Z9 on the upper end of the weft-hammer A, the latter being operated bya cam A, Fig. 1. The slide 12 has pivoted upon it at (Z a latch 01 having at its under side a cam or lump, the free end of the 'latch'being turned down and adapted to cooperate with the knock-off lever b and a duced into the proper shed a defect is appar- I wedge d? is mounted in the filling-fork slide to control the latch d and the parts hereinbefore described may be and are substantially as shown in said Patent No. 529,943, referred to, like parts herein having corresponding reference letters and numerals and operating as in said patent, it being understood that the filling-fork will operatively detect absence of the filling at every other pick or beat of the lay.

In Fig. 1 I have shown apart of the fillingsupplying mechanism, designating the fillingfeeder as F, with the transferrer f (shown in dotted lines) mounted on the stud f said mechanism operating to transfer a fresh supply of filling to the shuttle when in the shuttle-box of the lay adjacent the feeder F,while the feeler mechanism, located at the other side of the loom, controls the transfer of filling, all substantially as shown in United der f at one end and a beak f? at its other Supposing that the filling is absent and the fork is not tilted as the lay comes forward, then the tail 11 of the filling-fork will drop behind the shoulder f of the tumbler, and as I the weft-hammer moves the hook I) to the right, Figs. 1 and 3, the tumbler f will be tipped on its pivot f and completely turned over into the position shown in Fig. 6, casting off the filling-fork without causing any movement of the slide b that is, the tumbler acts as a cast-off to disconnect or release the filling-fork from operative engagement with the slide b and the filling-supplying mechanism actuated byor through movement of the slide will not be operated to insert fresh filling into the shuttle. On the next detecting pick, however, the cast-off being in inoperative position, the tail of the fork will engage the hook and the slide Z) will be operated, asin the Patent No. 529,943 referred to, and a. fresh supply of filling will be inserted in the shuttle, to be laid on the shed at the next succeeding pick. Now supposing that afour-harness weave is operating, with the filling supplying mechanism at the righthand side of the 100m and the filling-fork at theleft-hand side, if the filling fails as the shuttle goes from right to left the fork would ordinarily operate so that the shuttle, running for one pick without any filling, would obtain a new supply for the next pick, leaving thev shed at the first 'pick with part of a filling and the shed at the second pick without any filling whatever, the fresh filling being laid in the wrong shed, resulting in an imperfection in the, cloth. By my invention, however, the fork will not operate at the first pick, owing to the operation of the cast-off or tumbler. The shuttle returns to the righthand side of the loom at the second pick, but receives no supply of filling, and it goes back empty at. the third pick; but this time the fork will operate in usual manner, and on the fourth pick the shuttle is automatically supplied with filling when it enters the shuttlebox at the right-hand end of the lay. This retardation of the operation of the fillingfork enables the harness-cams to go through the,first,.second, third, and fourth movements or a complete cycle, so that at the first pick of the next cycle the same shed willbe opened for the introduction of filling as has a partial length of filling therein. this shed will have a partial and an entire length of filling therein; but the presence of two threads in a shed does not make a very noticeable change in the cloth, and the partial length of filling therein is no great disadvantage. Should the filling fail, with the shuttle passing from left to right, there will be a partial length of filling in that shed, and

As a consequence the mechanism will operate. to effect the insertion of the new filling on the next cycle of operation in the shed next following the one which corresponds to the shed with the partial length of filling. It will thus be seen that the operation of my invention will either permit a shed to have at least a partial length of filling or a partial and a full length of filling therein; but in no case will there be an entire shed empty.

It will be remembered that the cast-off or tumbler f has been turned over into abnormal position, as in Fig. 6, and it must be set or returned to normal position, and I have provided means to set or return the cast-off into operative position as the filling-fork slide moves. For this purpose I mount in the guide b a dog, (shown separately as a bent rod in Fig. 7,) the oppositely-turned ends h and h being connected by parallel offset por tions h and 72, the end h being weighted, as at h The part It is loosely extended transversely through a hole in a projecting ear Z2 of the guide b with the tail-'72 upturned in the path of a pin or projection 10 on the side of the slide 19 whilethe part It extends across the under side of the hook 1). After the cast-off has been turned over its beak f extends below the hook b ,.and when thereafter the hook engages the tail of the fork the slide is moved to theright, Fig. 3,.by the weft-hammer and the. projection 10 strikes the finger h and tips the setting-dog into dotted-line position insaid Fig. 3. This brings the part It up into the path of the beak f of the cast-off, and as the slide completes its movement the beak engages and is detained by the part h of the dog, throwing the heavier shouldered end of the cast-off over dead center, so that it will resume its normal position, the return movement of the slide releasing the tail h of the setting-dog, the Weight h returning the dog to normal position, and the parts are ready to again oper ate as described.

From the foregoing description it will be obvious that while I have shown one prac tical embodiment of my invention it maybe embodied in other forms of apparatus without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, the gist of the invention residing in the provision of means to retard the normal operation of the filling-fork for a pre- IIC determined extent, according to the exigeninstance, the filling-fork may be placed at the same side of the 100m as the hopper of the filling-supplying mechanism or two forks may be employed, one at each side of the loom, with the proper connecting and cooperating mechanisms.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a loom, a detector to detect the absence of filling, means to control the operation of the loom, actuated by or through the operation" of the detector, and means to retard the effective operation of the detector itself to a predetermined extentafter it has detected the absence of filling.

2. In a loom, a detector to detect the absence of filling, means to control the operation of the loom, actuated by or through the operation of the detector, means normally in condition to operate to retard the effective operation of the detector itself to a predetermined extent after it has detected the absence of filling and an independent device to restore said means to normal position upon the operation of the detector.

3. In a loom, a filling-fork to detect-the absence of filling, means to control the operation of the loom, actuated by or through the operation of the filling-fork, a hook adapted to engage the filling-fork upon absence of the filling and thereby effect the actuation of said means, and a cast-off to retard operative engagement of the hook and filling-fork.

4. In a loom, means to control the operation thereof, a fillingfork and cooperating mechanism by or through which the actuation of said means is efiected upon absence of the filling, said mechanism including a hook to engage the filling-fork when it detects absence of filling, anda cast-off mounted on said hook and acting to retard operative engagement of the hook and filling-fork.

5. In a loom, a filling-fork to detect absence of filling, a slide upon which said fork is mounted,an actuatin g-hook to engage the fork when the filling is absent and thereby move the slide, a cast=oif to retard or delay the operative engagement of the hook and fork, and

means to automatically set or return the castoif to normal position upon operative engagement of the hook and filling-fork.

,6. In a loom, a filling-fork to detect absence of filling, a slide upon which said fork is mounted,an actuatinghook to engage the fork when the filling is absent and thereby move the slide, a tilting cast-oif mounted on the hook and normally in position to engage the fork upon absence of the filling, movement of the hook thereafter tilting the cast-off to release the fork, and means to engage and restore the cast-off to normal position upon subsequent engagement of the hook and fork.

7. In a loom, a filling-fork to detect the absence of filling, filling-supplying mechanism actuated by or through the detecting operation of the filling-fork, and means to retard toa predetermined extent the efiective operation of the filling-fork and thereby the actuation of the filling-supplying mechanism governed by said fork.

8. In a loom, a filling-fork to detect the absence of filling, filling-supplying mechanism actuated by or through the detecting operation of the filling-fork, means, including a cast-0E to act upon the filling-fork, to retard or delay the actuation of said mechanism, whereby the fresh filling will be laid on a predetermined pick, and means to restore the cast-01f to normal position upon detecting operation of the filling-fork.

9. In a loom, a filling-fork to detect the ab sence of filling, filling-supplying mechanism actuated by or through the detecting operas tion of the filling-fork, a slotted vibrating hook to engage the filling-fork when the filling is absent, a pivotally-mounted cast-off movable in said slot and having a shoulder normally extended beyond the barb of the hook, to engage the fork upon the first detecting movement thereof and release the fork from the hook, the cast-off being thereby tilted to uncover the barb of the hook, and a setting-dog to engage and return the cast-01f to normal position upon engagement and movement of the filling-fork by the hook.

10. In a loom, means to detect the absence of filling in the shed, filling-supplying mechanism actuated by or through the detecting operation of said means to provide the shuttle with a fresh supply of filling, and a retarding device normally in condition to operate to delay the efiective detecting operation of said means and thereby delay the actua tion of said filling supplying mechanism to a predetermined extent, whereby the fresh filling will be laid in a particular shed.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIE G. EATON.

Witnesses:

O. D. PARKER, H. G. CHASE.

too 

